T-minus 4 months. Oh man oh man this move is almost upon us! In the meantime we have a house to sell, and if you've been through this before, you know how much you have to hide for open houses and walk throughs.
So we're taking down photographs and paintings and trying to declutter shelves and other flat surfaces. And since we have to touch almost everything in the house for this project, it's the perfect opportunity to get rid of a lot of it. We just have so much...stuff..., and we don't have the space to take it with us on the road. So why hide things away that we're going to leave behind in June anyway? It's time to let go.
(Full disclosure - We aren't getting rid of everything that can't fit in the trailer. We have decided to pack a small relo-cube with things we want to keep but don't need on the trip and we'll put this stuff in storage while we travel across the U.S. We're thinking about things that are expensive and/or sentimental and take up significant space like winter clothes/gear, Derek's tools, a couple of pieces of furniture that are one-of-a-kind, some books, some art, and a few kitchen appliances/tools. We'll make "absolutely take" piles, "would love to take" piles, and "would be nice to take" piles, and then pack the cube accordingly.)
In terms of packing for the year-long (ish) road trip, we will pull out of here with a truck, a travel trailer, and a car. It may sound like a lot of space, but the truck will fill quickly with big items like the camper's spare tire (we're putting three bikes on the back of the travel trailer), the generator, two 5-gallon water jugs, a cooler, fishing gear, and some tools. My Subaru has a fairly small hatchback. We'll hopefully have a kayak on top of each vehicle, so we can't get those car-top carriers. All that to say that most of our belongings will live in the trailer, so we'll need to be strategic about what we bring.
We don't want to bring any glass. A full-time RV friend recommended 10 outfits per person which amounts to a small-ish bin for each of us. We'll need bins for some shoes and rain gear and we'll need cupboards to house our kitchen stuff, including food. We'll want a shelf or two for the kids' books and games. We'll want an extra set of sheets for our beds. Underneath we'll store camping gear, chairs, and other bigger items such as a broom, a Coleman stove, and maaaaaybe an instant pot (but probably not). We can't bring much - we don't need much - and that means we can get rid of a lot.
Yesterday I sold my office desk and chair; I can work at the kitchen table for the next four months. Today I took a trunk-load to Goodwill, as I did last week and the week before. Tomorrow I'm going to take a deep breath and tackle my bins of "memories" and camping gear in the crawl space, and sift through all my winter accessories. We have given away games, toys, clothing, sheets, pots, and pans. We have someone lined up to take Autumn's bed in a couple of months. In May we'll try to sell our couch and comfy chair and bring our camp chairs into the living room. We'll sell our beds and move to blow-up mattresses and cots. We'll give away the kitchen plates.
It is a slow process, and sometimes it hurts a little to let something go, but it's also sort of amazing how good this feels! You think you have an attachment to this t-shirt or that vase, but then you realize that new memories are ahead, and the knickknacks and sweatshirts from upcoming adventures will fill drawers and cover surfaces once more.
So for now we're paring down. Purging, really. We're gearing up to live tiny, and getting ready to find joy more from experiences than materials on the road trip ahead of us. It's a cleanse of sorts, you know? I wonder if we'll be able to keep this mindset when we settle into our new life. Along with the increased sense of wellbeing we'll get from focusing on doing rather than having, it would also mean less to clean and maintain!
If you have experience with full-time travel and/or minimalist living, what are your tips for purging and packing? We're open to any and all suggestions!
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